Jesus
entered the synagogue and it was known that a man with a useless hand attended
there. Jesus’ reputation for acts of kindness is such that his opponents are
waiting to see if he will heal on the Sabbath. What an incredible reputation
for kindness! Note that the opposition doesn't doubt the miracles or the power
of Jesus to heal, they want to see if He will conform to their expectations and
traditions. Jesus is angered by the hardness of their heart. It is not doubt that angers the Lord; but
rather, hardness of hearts that is the problem. In this case, the hardness of
heart was expressed in the attitude that the man with the withered hand was
nothing to the religious elite but a tool, a pawn, or a test case. When we care
more about how much people prove our theology than their condition, we have
become like these religious elite. After the healing, they began to conspire to
kill Jesus. Why? Not because of a
Sabbath regulation, Jesus has already dealt with that issue, nor because of the
healing itself. They want to kill Jesus because He represents a threat to their
power structure. The common people are no longer minions and tools; but rather,
objects of God's love and care.
Demons
began to testify that Jesus is the Son of God. They were the wrong kinds
of witnesses and it was the wrong time for such a testimony. Later, Jesus would
be charged with being in league with Satan and that charge may have stemmed
from this testimony of the demonic. It is sad that demons have a better understanding
of who Jesus is than many liberal theologians.
We
see also the calling of the twelve. First is to be with the Savior and the second
is to be sent out by the Savior. In many cases, we today are a little weak in
both of these callings. It is at this point that Simon becomes Peter and the
two “Sons of Thunder” James and John are identified. These are the ones who
want to call fire down on an unrepentant city. James was the first Apostle to
be martyred, perhaps because the “Thunder” would not be silent. Jesus has a
tendency to use passionate people. Passionate people are not always loud, but
you can never doubt their passion.
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